Cebu’s infra, productivity lag behind Manila

[amendercabal]

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Cebu’s infra, productivity lag behind Manila



Cebu province’s productivity would increase by 60 percent if it had Metro Manila’s infrastructure.

“It (Cebu) is about 60 percent points behind Metro Manila in infrastructure and it lags seven to eight percent points behind Rizal, Cavite and Laguna (these provinces having the advantage of proximity to the National Capital Region),” said economist Ernesto Pernia during a lecture on investment climate and regional development at the University of San Carlos last week.

Labor

Labor productivity and economic growth are strongly influenced by quality of roads, distribution of potable water, electrification and telecommunications, he said.

In an interview yesterday, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Robert Go agreed with Pernia.

“Cebu’s infrastructure lags behind Metro Manila where most of the national infrastructure projects are concentrated,” he said.

Budget

Go, who is also the co-chairman of Regional Development Council (RDC) in Central Visayas, said lack of budget from the National Government—not shortage of plans—is the reason for insufficient infrastructure in Cebu province.

“We (RDC) have so many approved plans for infrastructure development in Cebu but their implementation always takes a long time because our national economy is not good enough to fund such projects,” he said.

Go told Sun.Star Cebu, though, that while infrastructure projects cost billions, their economic positive effect cannot be understated.

“With better infrastructure, there will be more jobs, construction projects would go up, workers income would increase, and generally, our economy would grow,” he said.

CIP

The Cebu International Port (CIP) is an example of Cebu’s limited infrastructure, he said.

“It (CIP) can only accommodate a few international vessels. You can’t imagine what a boost it would give our tourism industry if bigger cruise liners can also come and dock in Cebu. But then again, that is not possible because of our small international port,” he said.

Catch up

Pernia said Cebu has a lot of catching up to do.

He presented the comparative labor productivity in 2000, which reveals that in Metro Manila the average annual output per worker in that year was P82,087; in Rizal, it was P72,728; Cavite, P55,349; Laguna, P46,298; Cebu, P39,276; Bohol, P26,078; and Negros Oriental, P24,596.

The national average, he said, was P34,000.

Besides improving infrastructure, Cebu should enhance its competitiveness and attractiveness to investments by making its regulatory system simpler and more transparent by eliminating red tape and corruption.

He also proposed that Cebu facilitate access to finance, improve labor market flexibility, and keep wage increases in step with productivity growth.

Other potential areas for development that Pernia identified for Cebu are: developing Cebu’s position as center of excellence for education; public and private sector partnership investments in transportation; tourism; electronics for export; developing information, communications technology software; fashion jewelry and handicrafts for export.

[tools4kools]

make cebu politically and economically autonomous to manila and definitely the tides will be all different!

[YM24]

unsa ni cya?